2009 Ferrari California

Our friends from Maranello show off their latest mouth-watering creation.

Just as more spy shots of the rumored “Baby Ferrari” begin surfacing, the Italian automaker has decided to blow the cover off their newest vehicle, the gorgeous California, with a trio of official photos.

Offered only as a folding hardtop convertible, the California aims to sate the desires of the ultrarich who crave both open-air and Grand Tourer experiences. Powering the California will be Ferrari’s familiar 4.3-liter, flat-crank V-8, here with direct injection and mounted in a front-mid position and producing 454 horsepower at 7500 rpm, down from the 483 and 503 in the mid-engined F430 coupe/Spider and F430 Scuderia, respectively. The chassis and body panels will be crafted—as is the case with all Ferraris—in aluminum, and Brembo carbon-ceramic brakes will be standard.

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The California is mechanically related to both the Maserati GranTurismo and Alfa Romeo 8C, which might make this the hottest set of triplets since, well, ever. The rear suspension is a new multilink setup, which deviates from the control arm approach used for the rest of the Ferrari lineup (and the GranTurismo and 8C, too). Seating is said to be a 2+ arrangement, which implies a rear seat, but the photos suggest that it will be little more than vestigial, a leather-lined shelf for your Prada briefcase.

In big news, putting the Prancing Horse’s ponies to the pavement will be a new, seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, a first for Ferrari. While Ferrari has had great success reducing the shift times to mere milliseconds with its Formula 1–derived F1 sequential manual gearbox, it’s never been able to make the shifts smooth enough for comfortable use in regular driving, particularly in automatic mode; this new box should fix that. Acceleration will be neck-snapping, as the automaker claims a 0-to-62-mph gallop of less than four seconds.

The “Baby Ferrari” nickname will likely prove to be misleading in terms of price, as Ferrari is positioning the California as a shoulder-to-shoulder GT peer to its own 612 Scaglietti, which sports a sticker of around $270,000. While the California will not likely cost nearly as much as that, some rumors have this car priced commensurate with today’s F430, whose replacement model will become even more technologically intensive—and therefore more expensive.

As such, we expect the California to come in just under $200,000, but going on looks alone—the achingly beautiful styling is inspired by both the 599GTB Fiorano and classic Ferraris of the past—we’re going to go ahead and say it’ll be worth whatever they ask.

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Ferrari has set up a Web site with high-quality sound clips of the engine, as well as a live timer indicating when the next details are to be released. It also promises photos and what it’s calling “highly gratifying virtual road tests” some time in the future. The live reveal will take place October 1st at the 2008 Paris auto show.